Knowing What You Eat

March 11, 1990

If, as the old saying goes, you are what you eat, many Americans may not have any idea what they are. That's because, as a country, we rely heavily on packaged food. And from the standpoint of truth in advertising, American food labeling is a disaster. It can be inconsistent, nonexistent or misleading.

Some common examples: Many labels tout products that are "high fiber" or "low fat." But consumers can't count on those claims to have consistent meanings. And some foods labeled "lite" are actually more caloric than average servings of non-diet food.

Others, labeled "natural," can be anything but - overprocessed and loaded with chemicals. Then there are the products with fancy, attractive packaging but not much information about what's in it.

So, what's a shopper to do? Hang on - because help is on the way. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan plans to bring some order to the chaos that now confronts the consumer, through regulations that will standardize food labels.

By next year, Sullivan hopes to have implemented a three-phase proposal that will leave most foods with labels that are clear, complete and consistent - and, most of all, informative. That means labeling will show calories, and fat, fiber and cholesterol content, among other things.

It also means foods labeled as "low fat" or "high fiber" will have to meet certain uniform standards. So products with a smattering of, say, oat bran will no longer be advertised as wonder foods capable of making people live longer and healthier lives. In the future, when lofty claims are made, there will be definite, thoroughly researched data to back them up.

All this is good news for consumers since study after study has shown that most Americans get their nutritional information from food labels. But only about 60 percent of food is labeled and much of the information provided doesn't reflect new thinking about eating habits.

For instance, the last mandatory labeling revisions were almost two decades ago. Since then, we've all learned a lot about the role - and dangers - of fat, sodium and cholesterol in diet.

Soon, Sullivan's requirement for uniform labels containing the same information for virtually all foods will allow Americans to put that knowledge to better use when they visit their supermarkets.